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Self-fertility of Hippeastrum species

brownest_thumb
11 years ago

I'm trying to find out more about the following species:

H. macbrideii
H. neopardinum
H. pardinum
H. intiflorum
H. yungacensis
H. mandonii
H. bukasovii

There is very little information about whether they are self-fertile, besides for bukasovii which is not self-fertile.

I did find this very useful tip in an article by Charles Hardman.

"I pass along a self-pollination technique which I only recently learned about. It might help those of you who are interested in self-pollinating your favorite Hippeastrum species if you have only one clone. While most species are self-sterile, if you take pollen from another hippeastrum�any you have available�and cook it in your microwave oven for several seconds, say from 10 to 20 seconds, then apply it to the stigma of the flower along with its own pollen, sometimes, I'm told, sometimes your single clone can be made to produce seeds from its own pollen. The idea here is that the tiny amounts of slightly different chemicals in the foreign, microwaved-thus-dead pollen trick the plant into believing its own pollen is not its own but from another clone. (Yes, I've tried this trick, but only once. While it didn't work for me that time, there's no reason it might not work next time. Certainly it's worth trying, at least, if you're desperate to get seeds from a species which is definitely self-sterile and you have only one clone.)"

I am also searching for h. lapasence and h. traubii f. doaraniae if anyone has offsets for sale/trade.

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